David Bellamy OBE
President
Professor David Bellamy OBE., BSc., PhD., Hon; FLS,. DSC.. DUniv., C.Biol., FIBiol., FRIN., is one of Britain's best-known and respected botanists. He is President, Patron and Trustee of numerous conservation and environmental organisations. His numerous appointments include: President of; The Conservation Foundation; Durham, Surrey and Birmingham Wildlife Trusts; National Association for Environmental Education; British Naturalists Association; Conservation Volunteers of Ireland; Galapagos Conservation Trust; British Institute of Cleaning Science; Association of Master Thatchers; British Home and Holiday Parks Association; Camping and Caravanning Club Of Great Britain. Vice President of; The British Trust of Conservation Volunteers; Fauna and Flora International; Marine Conservation Society; Australian Marine Conservation Society; Wild Trout Trust; Countrywide Holidays Association. He is also Trustee of The Living Landscape Trust and Hon Fellow at the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management. Prof. Bellamy has received numerous national and international awards including; The Dutch Order of the Golden Ark, the U.N.E.P. Global 500 Award; The Duke of Edinburgh's Award for Underwater Research; BAFTA- Richard Dimbleby Award; BSAC Diver of The Year Award; RGS Busk Medal.

Field Marshal Sir John Chapple

After completion of National Service and 3 years at Trinity College, Cambridge, Sir John joined the 2nd Ghurkha Rifles in 1954. He served a number of tours in Singapore, Malaysia, Borneo and Hong Kong. John is a Life Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Zoological Society of London, as well as having involvement in some 15 other conservation or natural history organisations including being Patron of Coral Cay Conservation.
Pete Faulkner
Pete originally joined Coral Cay as a volunteer in 1992 on the South Water Cay expedition in Belize. Since leaving the financial world of the City of London in 1996 he has travelled much of the world including CCC expeditions in Belize, Honduras, Indonesia, Fiji and the Philippines. A PADI Master Instructor and keen amateur marine biologist he has extensively plagiarised the CCC Science training to author 2 PADI Distinctive Specialities on Coral ID, and probably still holds the CCC record for most species of algae collected on a single Caribbean dive! Pete currently lives in Tropical North Queensland where he operates a dive training and business consultancy operation with wife Ruth, presents a weekly reef awareness and conservation show and is a Trainer for Reef Check Australia. 
Dr Alistair Harborne
Alistair's role was co-ordination of the CCC science programme in the Caribbean, South East Asia, South Pacific and Red Sea. He left CCC at the end of 2001 to join the Marine Spatial Ecology Lab at the University of Exeter in order to complete his PhD. Al is currently a NERC Research Fellow at Exeter, and is a Visiting Academic at the University of Queensland. His main research interests are focused on reef fish ecology.
Dr Colin Clubbe
Colin is the Head of the Conservation Team at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew. His research speciality is ‘conservation biology with particular reference to islands’. Colin was recently part of a 12-person team, which undertook a 14-day research itinerary of the Chagos islands, a British Indian Ocean Territory. The team comprised some of the world's foremost experts in a range of scientific disciplines. Thanks to international pressure, Chagos is now the world's largest Marine Protected Area.

Dr Craig Turner

Craig worked for Coral Cay from 2000-2005, co-ordinating the terrestrial science programmes predominantly in Southeast Asia. Following a four year stint working for an ecological consultancy. He currently works as a Conservation Biologist with the Zoological Society of London. Craig works on the EDGE of Existence programme which focuses on the ‘weird and wonderful’ species that are not only unique but also globally endangered across the globe. He is currently engaged in projects in Asia, Africa and the Americas, and also supports aspiring conservationists through the EDGE Fellowship programme. Outside of his day job he manages the Erasmus Darwin Barlow Expedition Grant on behalf of ZSL and is a member of the British Ecological Society Review College. Craig is currently an Honorary Research Associate with University College London and is a visiting Research Assistant with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution in Panama. When time permits, he also co-runs an environmental consultancy with his partner, and is a ‘keen amateur’ photographer and writer. His work has graced the pages of publications such as Asian Geographic, Lonely Planet, and BBC Wildlife magazine. Craig is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Linnean Society of London.

Dr David Vousden

David Vousden has spent 30 years working directly with environmental and development issues, specialising in coastal and offshore resource management. In the last 15 years he has been working directly with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations to promote and encourage effective management and governance of marine resources around the world. David was appointed director of the ASCLME Project in 2007 and relocated to Grahamstown, South Africa, with his family the same year.

Derek Maule
Dez is a Chartered Physicist and spent most of his working life in top management running companies manufacturing electrical and electronic products. He was first introduced to Coral Cay Conservation in 1998 through his close friend, the Trustees Chairman. Dez was appointed non-executive Chairman of Coral Cay Conservation, a position he held until 2005. During that period, Dez oversaw many changes in the company. Dez retired in 2006 and emigrated with his wife to Australia.

Deric Ellerby

A First Class Diver and National Instructor, Deric has extensive BSAC experience at club, regional, national and international levels, including creation / operation of BSAC Japan, Korea, Pan Pacific, China and Thailand. He is author of 'The Diving Manual' and 'Dive Leading', with all royalties to the Club as well as contributing to other BSAC publications. Deric's professional career is in electronics research, information technology and education sector (retired). He is also Executive Director of BSAC International (unpaid). Deric lists his top dive locations as wrecks off North West Scotland, South of France and Truk lagoon.
Prof James Crabbe
James took up his post as Dean of the Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies and Science at the University of Bedfordshire in October 2005. Before this, he worked at the University of Reading as Professor of Protein Biochemistry, after spending 10 years at Oxford University, mostly in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Biochemistry. He has a long-standing interest in modelling biological systems and has developed a number of computer programs for his field. In the last five years he has developed computational models for coral reefs and currently works on the genetics, recruitment and survival of reef-building corals around Discovery Bay, Jamaica, and in the Wakatobi Marine National Park, Indonesia. In 2010 he gave invited lectures on his coral research at international conferences in Bali, Beijing and Istanbul.

James Sawyer FRGS CGEOG

James currently works as Head of Disaster Management for the WSPA. Prior to this James had worked as the Director of Operations two international NGO’s and as an Expedition Leader and Project Manager on 12 expeditions and in over 40 countries. During his time in this field James has been heavily involved in the development of Health and Safety and technical standards. James is also an explorer and recently led a team on the first scientific exploration of the interior of the North Negros Natural Park in 2009 and a follow up expedition in 2012. James is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Chartered Geographer.

Lord Sutherland
Lord Sutherland is a British academic and public servant and one of the UK's most distinguished philosophers of religion. In 2001, he was created a life peer as Baron Sutherland of Houndwood, of Houndwood in the Scottish Borders, and was the following year elected to the presidency of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

 

Martin Cooke
Martin has been a Patron of Coral Cay Conservation since 1989.  He trained as a veterinarian and has an MSc in wild animal heath.  He has a long term interest in wildlife conservation; he is currently Vice President of the Zoological Society of London and was formerly a Trustee of the animal welfare and conservation charity, EarthKind, a member of the senior advisors group of the Marine Stewardship Council and an Associate Fellow of Chatham House. Martin is now Head of Membership Services at the Ethical Trading Initiative, an alliance of NGOs, trade union organisations and companies, which works to improve working conditions in consumer goods supply chains around the world.  He is also a Director of Ocatra, a trade and development consultancy. 
Dr Morgan Pratchett
Morgan is an extremely accomplished and internationally-regarded coral reef ecologist, having published 65 scientific papers and won numerous accolades for his work, including a Churchill Fellowship in 2008. Morgan is a Principal Research Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, based at James Cook University, Australia. He has broad interests in population and community ecology of coral reef organisms, especially corals and fishes. His current research focuses on major disturbances that impact coral reef ecosystems, with a view to understanding differential responses and vulnerabilities among coral reef organisms.

Dr Nic Flemming

Dr Nic Flemming OBE, has published over 50 academic papers on submerged cities and drowned prehistoric caves and villages. He learned to dive in the Royal Marines, and mapped his first underwater city in 1958. He believes that truth is stranger than fiction.  Nic has recently retired from being Director of EuroGOOS, an Association of Agencies, founded in 1994, to further the goals of Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), which provides the ocean component of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS).
Peter Beckingham
Peter Beckingham has had a distinguished career in the British Diplomatic Service, doing political, public diplomacy and trade & investment work. After graduating from Selwyn College, Cambridge, he worked with the Argo Record Company before joining the British Overseas Trade Board in 1974 and travelling with a variety of business missions to Europe, SE Asia and the Middle East. Peter then entered the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1979, when he worked for four year in British Information Services New York. He subsequently worked in a number of FCO Departments in London covering the Horn of Africa, international space and a G7 summit. He was posted to Stockholm, and then to Australia, first as Head of the Political Section in Canberra and later British Consul-General in Sydney, covering the period of the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He was then British Ambassador to the Philippines from 2005 - 2009, before becoming British Deputy High Commissioner in Mumbai in 2010.
Major Pete Carr
Major Pete Carr has been heavily involved in practical conservation work in the Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean since 1996. This work has involved monitoring internationally important seabird colonies and unravelling bird migration strategies to this unique area. Since 2008 he has been focussing on island restoration, including prioritising islands for restoration; piloting methods for restoring native hardwoods on former coconut plantation sites and the eradication of invasive species. Having just retired from the Royal Marines, Pete is now an Environmental Manager on Diego Garcia. This work has afforded him the opportunity to continue his passion for restoring these islands back to a more natural state and, to complete a book on the birds of the British Indian Ocean Territory. It is his hope that Coral Cay Conservation will become involved in island restoration work in the Chagos and the experience and expertise they have built up on expeditions over the years around the globe can be brought to benefit this near pristine and globally important area.

Prof Pete Mumby

Pete's research group, the Marine Spatial Ecology Lab (MSEL), focuses on delivering science to improve the management of coral reefs. They carry out empirical ecological studies at scales ranging from millimetres (algal patch dynamics) to thousands of kilometres (gene flow in Caribbean corals) in an effort to plug gaps in our understanding of reef processes. Ecosystem models are then developed from which the effectiveness of conservation measures in mitigating disturbance on reefs including climate change can be investigated. Lastly, ecological models are combined with remotely-sensed data to allow spatial conservation planning such as marine reserve design.
 
In 2010, Peter was awarded a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation. The award attracts a research grant but, more importantly, provides lifetime membership of the Pew Marine Fellows, which include some of the greatest innovators in marine conservation. Pete was also awarded the Zoological Society of London's Marsh Award for Marine and Freshwater Conservation in 2010. He is a Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, Centre for Marine Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane. In 2011, he was awarded the Rosenstiel Award is an international award given by the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences to honour scientists who make outstanding scientific contributions in their early to mid-career stages. 
 
Pete started his career in 1992 with CCC in Belize, before going on to complete a a PhD at the University of Sheffield in coral reef remote sensing. He is currently partway through a five-year Australian Research Council Laureate fellowship at the University of Queensland, and is the “Oceans and Coasts” research focal area leader in the Global Change Institute. His work has been published in 85 journal articles, seven book chapters, and two books, including several first-author papers in Science and Nature. Mumby and his colleagues have studied the impacts of marine reserves on Caribbean reefs and discovered that the direct effects of protecting fish can have profound indirect effects on the ecosystem. His research has influenced conservation policy, contributing to the implementation of a ban on herbivore exploitation in Belize and the identification of a marine park at Conception Island in the Bahamas.

Ruth Faulkner

Ruth graduated from the University of Warwick in 1992 with a first class honours degree in Accountancy and Financial Analysis. She has had a varied career working as a business advisor, consultant, auditor, accountant and dive instructor. Ruth currently runs her own business consultancy practice in Australia with her husband Pete Faulkner. Ruth learnt to dive in 1993 and since then has dived extensively all over the world and is a qualified PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer and EFR Instructor. She is authorised to teach 10 PADI speciality courses. Ruth first volunteered with Coral Cay Conservation in Belize in 1996 and then again in Honduras in 1999. Her favourite dive sites are off the coast of Utila Island in Honduras and her own backyard in the Coral Sea, North Queensland. Pete and Ruth's combined dive and business experience make them an ideal partner for operations such as Reef Check Australia and Coral Cay Conservation. Ruth is delighted to be a patron of Coral Cay Conservation and can honestly say that Coral Cay Conservation has changed her life in many ways, all for the better. 
Ted Morris 
Ted has a very old BA in Environmental Biology (with honours) and has had a lifelong interest in ecology and reasoning out man’s place in the world. He has travelled widely, and is widely read. He served his country as a U.S. Air Force pilot, been an executive with the Boy Scouts of America, managed international airports, and spent three years in combat in Southwest Asia. In retirement, his passion is the preservation of the wilderness character of the Chagos Archipelago, and invites everyone who is likewise interested to work for that goal as well. Ted is honoured to be a Patron for Coral Cay Conservation and hopes that he can in some way assist it in raising awareness of the importance of establishing marine and tropical forest protected areas.
Tim Severin
Tim Severin has had a distinguished career as an explorer and historian, which has seen him sail a leather boat across the Atlantic in the wake of the Irish monk Saint Brendan, captain an Arab sailing ship from Muscat to China, steer the replica of a Bronze Age galley to seek the landfalls of Jason and the Argonauts and Ulysses and ride the route of the First Crusade from a castle in Belgium to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. His travels have been the subject of award winning documentary films and a major BBC documentary series, and are collected under the title Time Traveller. He has written regularly about his expeditions in the National Geographic Magazine and won a number of awards, including the Thomas Cook Travel Book award, The Book of the Sea Award, a Christopher Prize, the Sykes Medal of the Society of Asian Affairs, and the literary Medal of the Academie de Marine. His replica boats have become museum exhibits. In l986 he was awarded the Gold Medal (Founder's Medal) of the Royal Geographical Society for his research into early voyages, and in 1987 the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. In 2003 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the National University of Ireland.

William Gray

William Gray is an award-winning travel writer and photographer, specialising in family travel, wildlife and adventure. The author of Travel with Kids (winner of the BGTW Best Guidebook in 2008), Britain with Kids (2009), Europe with Kids (2010) and Cornwall with Kids (2010), he’s currently working on a new wildlife title. Will presented family travel features for the BBC's Holiday programme and is a contributing editor for Wanderlust magazine. He regularly writes travel features for The Sunday Times Travel magazine and numerous other national and international publications. Will wrote and illustrated his first book, of which Coral Cay Conservation was a trustee, at the age of 23. Coral Reefs & Islands: The Natural History of a Threatened Paradise was highly commended in the Conservation Book Prize. A sought-after photographer, William supplies images to several leading agencies including AWL Images and Photolibrary. He lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his wife, Sally, and 10-year-old twins, Joe and Ellie. Will has also designed a brochure for CCC, and written newsletters for us. One such article that he has written recently is 'Tuning into coral reef conservation'